Wood Mandala

I am really loving this mandala piece! I made this for my Reiki room, I needed a wood element on the walls and this is perfect!

I started with wood that had a rough, un-sanded finish. Found it at Hobby Lobby. I have several cans of stain already so I did not need to buy any…. But I should have. The color I wanted to do, well…it was gel stain. It worked but it was a challenge to get it into the wood really well. Lesson learned. Never use a thick, gel stain on a rough wood finish.

Looking at it you would never know how I struggled with it, it turned out really nice. But the struggle was real.

I found the mandala stencil on Amazon. I originally purchased the stencil to use on a coffee table I refinished (here). It worked really nice on this wood BUT, again with the rough wood!!! It took a little longer to pounce that white paint through the stencil onto the wood.

Will I use rough wood again on a project, absolutely! Just not with gel stain and a stencil with really small detail. Namaste!

Homemade Soy Candles

I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s and candles were pretty popular at the time. There was a candle shop in state park that we used to visit, that was the start of my candle addiction. They had any candle color, fragrance or shape that you could imagine. Plus, candle rings and globes to go with them.

Even as a young teenager, I was always burning candles in my room. Then, lucky me, as a family project we would make our own candles. It was fun to show them off to my friends when they came over. I’ve had candles in my home ever since.

It wasn’t until about 15 years ago that I realized all of the harmful chemicals that were in candles.

So I’ve been making my own candles ever since. I use soy candle wax and low smoke, cotton candle wicks. Organic is even better.

Let’s talk a little bit about the wax. I use soy because it burns cleaner. About 4 cups of soy wax flakes equals about 2 cups of melted wax. I never measure though, I always have about 10 or more glass jars ready to go so I just melt what I need. I do make sure that I save some wax for topping off later. If the room that you are making the candles is cool, you can sometimes end up with a “sink hole”! When that happens, I use that extra wax to fill in the top.

The pouring temp of the soy wax should be around 120 degrees, once it reaches that temp, I let it sit for just a bit before pouring. If you are making one candle, you could melt the soy flakes in the microwave, I have only done this once for a very small candle that I wanted to give someone. You would only need to heat the wax for a little bit at a time so it doesn’t cause a mess. Then pour into your jar.

Okay, now the fun stuff, the fragrance or scent… CHEMICALS!!! The entire reason I started making my own candles was due to the chemicals so I buy unscented soy wax. Yes I’ll admit, I love the scent of candles in the stores but they are full of harmful chemicals. Like what you ask? Truck diesel fuel for one. Alcohols and acetone, carcinogens like benzene and toluene, the list is horrendous. Some of the chemicals are in paint, lacquer and varnish removers. Would you want those burning in your home?

Those chemical smells give me migraines, I can’t even shop in candle stores anymore. I might be able to sniff a few candles and then I am done! I can barely nose around a candle aisle at a box store.

Anyway, since I use the unscented soy wax I on a rare occasion add essential oils. But for the most part, my candles are scent free. When I do add the oils, I add it to the melted wax AFTER it is poured in the glass jar. I don’t put the oil in right away though, I add it just before it starts to set. However, it takes a lot of oil to be able to smell it when it burns so I prefer to just use unscented. I am in love with my essential oils so I have diffusers throughout the house, I use that for any scent that I want.

I have also chopped up fresh rosemary from my garden and put that in candles too, but beware! You must keep an eye on the candle when you burn it, it could easily catch fire if you are not careful.

Now the wicks. Ya know how black your jars get from the smoke? That’s in the air too, and on your walls and curtains. You and your family are breathing it in. Most wicks have metals like lead in them. A lead core wick can release 5 times the amount of lead consider hazardous for children, it also exceeds the EPA pollution standards.

All of the chemicals in candle wax and wicks have been linked to hormone disruption, behavioral problems, learning disabilities and many other health problems.

When buying your wicks, make sure you’re getting 100% cotton, you can buy organic too. I prefer buying the wicks that have the metal tab on the bottom, saves me time from doing that myself. I use my hot glue gun and put a dab of hot glue on the metal tab and press it down into the glass jar, using a popsicle stick to help center and press securely.

When buying wicks, you also want to think about the size of the glass jar you are using vs the diameter of the wick. I have not been able to find any wicks that are too thick so depending on the jar I am using, I may use two.

I buy my soy flakes at the craft store and the wicks I buy online. The glass jars I use are small canning jars or thick drinking glasses that I find on sale.

Remember, when burning your candles, only burn them until the wax melts up to the glass then blow them out. DO NOT burn them to the point of having a thick layer of melted wax on the surface. I really don’t know if that would catch fire but the wicks at that point get a little smokey and the glass jar could break. If you like to keep candles burning then have several on hand so you can burn one, blow it out and then have another one handy.

Also important is to trim the wicks. I have this cute little wick cutter that works wonderfully! If you let the wicks too long, even though you have low smoke wicks, it will eventually smoke a little. Plus, I don’t like it when a burned ball of wick falls down in the wax.

There are plenty of you tube videos on candle making, do your research to see what works best for you.

Happy candle making!!!

Vintage Sidetable Makeover

I am so happy with how this refurbish turned out, in fact; if I had the space, I would definitely be keeping it!!  It would be perfect to display my tabletop Christmas tree.

Each piece that I do, I learn something new. Some lessons are pretty hard, meaning that I have a lot of sanding to do so I can start over. But the end result is worth it.

I didn’t have any hard lessons with this, which surprises me since I used a gel stain for the first time and tried a little different technique for the staining process.

Next project are a pair of chairs, and it involves upholstery. Yikes!!

Make it a great day, make some quiet time for yourself, and above all…be kind.

Be sure to follow me on Facebook to catch my daily babbling.

Easy Placemat Craft Project

I haven’t posted anything crafty lately; in fact, since my last furniture refinishing job, I haven’t crafted anything!

Any thoughts on what I am going to do with these placemats?

 

Any idea’s at all?

Accent pillows!!!

It’s been about a year or more since I found placemats that I liked enough to make pillows. The last time was for Christmas about 2 years ago, and a year before that I made Thanksgiving and Christmas pillows. Yea I know, I love accent pillows.   It’s a girl thing, right ladies!! I could probably fill my car with all of my accent pillows!

Honestly, I have been wanting cute little Spring/Summer pillows. But with the COVID virus and not being able to shop for a longggggg time, other than online, I just had to be patient.

I found these placemats at Target. You all know that store right? It’s that big box store with a bullseye that draws you in and if that wasn’t enough, there’s a Starbuck’s that adds to the shopping comfort. Then most of us get lost browsing the aisles of clothes, shoes and home goods; shopping for hours for stuff we do NOT need!!

Except I did NEED these placemats, my living room needed a summer pick me up.

So here’s what you need: first find a place mat that you can basically grab on both sides and pull apart, it should have 2 pieces of fabric making a front and back. Look at the seams to make sure you can pull it apart to stuff it full of batting to make your pillow. There should be no other stitching through the center of the placemat either.

Then using a seam ripper, carefully loosen up about 5 inches of the stitches on one end of the placemat and remove them. Remember this, the more stitches you remove, the more hand stitching you will have to close up. Make sure you can get your hand in there to distribute the batting into the corners.

Next stuff it full of batting and stitch it back up! That’s it, instant pillow. Sew easy!

Refinished Coffee Table with a Gold Mandala

I bought this coffee table at a yard sale a few years ago, with the intention of using it for the grandkids. I wanted to convert a little room in the basement into a game room for the grandkids but that didn’t work out. So the table has been sitting in my basement gathering dust.

Then I thought I would give it a new look. And I loved the new look so much that I almost kept it, but I just didn’t have the room for it.

It was a black table, I painted it white using a paint to block “bleeding”. Put 2 coats of a creamy white paint and then added a gold mandala in the center.

I love the look and will definitely be using mandala’s on tables again. What do you think?

Refurbished Vintage Wooden Ironing Board

I have had this lovely wooden ironing board in my basement, it belonged to my Gramma. She gave it to me probably about 25 years ago, she’s passed now and I miss her so much.

There is one little corner that has some penciled artwork, I am pretty sure that was from me!

Anyway, as much as I have treasured this piece, I never quite figured out what I wanted to do with it. I thought about taking the legs off and placing wood shelves on it to hang it vertically. But I felt like I would be destroying it.

I lived in a very small condo unit for a little and had no room to set it up as a side table. I moved to a small one story home and again, didn’t really have the space to set it up as a table.

So my next thought was to put some poly on it and set on my patio to use as a plant table. As I started putting the poly on, I was totally falling in love with the finish and knew I could NOT set this piece out in the elements of rain and sun and have it destroyed.

I knew I had to find a place for this beautiful piece. And I did. I rearranged the last cabinet I finished (post is here) and I unpacked my small bookcase and moved that piece and…. Put the ironing board in front of the large picture window.

I love it! I am so happy how it turned out and I’m sure I’ll have it filled with plants and family photo’s soon!

Refurbished Chest of Drawers

I was hesitant to post this furniture makeover. I still haven’t finished it, there is one little detail left to do that will make this chest of drawers amazing, at least to me.

I found this vintage chest at an antique shop and brought it home to refinish. I had been looking for something to store some of my craft supplies, even though it is not as big as I had hoped for, it still works. And it has eliminated some plastic storage tubs that were under my craft table.

I discovered this primer that is supposed to cover furniture with a shiny finish, so I gave it a shot. It also is good for covering paint and stain from bleeding through, which it absolutely did for the red cabinet that I posted earlier. This primer did cover the shine and the color well BUT, I did not seal the piece and the very first thing I set on the top as décor pulled the paint and primer right off. AGH!!!

I still have a lot to learn about furniture refinishing. Maybe next time I should still give it a little sanding just to play it safe.

So anyway, the one little detail that I wanted to do was to stencil or decoupage a floral design on the front. THEN I was going to put a poly over the entire chest.

But now, I am unsure if I want to waste my time and the materials to stencil if this isn’t going to seal well. Regardless, I do still love how the chest turned out.

If I decide to add the detail later, I will be sure to share it with you.

Pretty Little Crocheted Dishcloths

I love winter for several reasons. First and most important is there is no more suffocating heat! I can walk outside and not break into an immediate sweat. I’d much rather be bundled up in a warm sweatshirt or coat. That said, I do not like the frigid temperatures and artic winds either.

Second, and probably just as important as the first, I have a break from tending to my gardens and yard. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE my gardens and yard. But it is hard work for me; not only am I single, so that means I do everything myself but, I also have several different types of arthritis. The RA and the arthritis in my spine being the worse. Every joint in my body has arthritis, I am far from crippled and I stay active but, I do hurt.

So by August, I am ready to stop the yard work. I just need a break from the work and doing it in that awful heat we have.

Two other reasons I love the winter months are that I finally have more time to focus on my hobbies and work on things inside the house.

For the last few weeks I have been working on these crocheted dishcloths. I love them!

They are made with cotton yarn so that makes them perfect for washing dishes and then being tossed into the washer and dryer.

They hold up remarkably well. And the colors don’t fade.

Unfortunately I used a smaller hook than the last time I made them so they are little too stiff, I may use them as pot holders for a bit until they loosen up a little.

Some people prefer them this way but I like them to be a bit loose, that makes washing glasses easier. But these are also great for scrubbing plates and maybe a pots and baking dishes if the food isn’t baked on too bad.

I sometimes sell them on Etsy although right now I have absolutely nothing in my shop and I have closed it for the time being.

I also have a shop on Shop Handmade, my shop name there is LillyBug Designs, named after my dog Lilly. I do have a set of knitted dishcloths for sale, along with scarves and other items. Now I crochet, I think crochet goes faster and I seem to like it better as the stitches are easier.

I am looking forward to working on some new patterns for dishcloths in the next few months while I am snuggled on the sofa with Lilly.

Canvas Photo Art

Have you ever seen those beautiful canvas photographs?  I had some amazing close up shots of my dog and cat that I wanted do have done that way but WOW is it expensive.  So I decided to give it a try and make my own canvas art.

I used the following materials:

8×10 canvas

8×10 picture

Acrylic craft paint, flat black

Mod Podge

Foam brush

Picture hanger

First I determined what size canvas would be available to the size of the photo that I wanted.  Then I ordered the photo’s ( I order all my pictures on-line and have them delivered to my house!).  While I was waiting for the photo’s to be delivered, I worked on the canvas.  I purchased the extra deep canvas and painted the sides with the black paint.

This is Jack.

Then when the photo’s arrived, they needed to be trimmed ever so slightly to fit on the canvas.  You can figure this out by laying the photo on the canvas and either determine by eyeballing the excess OR using a ruler and measuring precisely.  I don’t recommend laying the canvas on the picture and cutting it by using the canvas as your guide, you can ruin and scratch the canvas.

I used a ruler and an X-acto knife to get a straight and even cut on the photo, and I made the cut on the back side of the picture.  Make sure you lay the photo on a surface that you can use the knife on.

I used a foam brush to smooth on the Mod Podge on the top of the canvas, I tried not to let it go over the  edge of the canvas.  And I made sure I had enough glue to adhere the photo but not so much that it would damage the picture or  leak out of the sides.  Then I placed the photo on the canvas and slid it into place while the glue was still wet.  I used a piece of thin clean cardboard to lay over the picture so that I could smooth it over (and not get finger prints on the picture) and to make sure it was pressed firmly on the canvas without damaging the picture. However, I would ask that you remove the cardboard while the glue dries,  you won’t want the cardboard to dry to the picture!!   And again, I didn’t press down on the cardboard, I really just wanted to make sure there were no bubbles.  If any glue does come out from under the picture, wipe it away as soon as you can, before it dries.

  This is Gibson.

Then I just left it dry for a day.  After it was dry I attached a hook on the back to hang it on the wall.

And that’s it!!!

This is Charlie, my daughters kitty.  I surprised her with the canvas.

 

The Crafty Side of Me!

I was so busy over the holidays with a new job, physical therapy and making a few crafts.   I had intended to post them as I made them but it just didn’t happen.  So I guess I’ll just have to post it all now!!

Christmas a year ago, my daughter and I made those Christmas balls with the glitter, yanno which one I mean right?  They are now all over Pinterest!  But this year I wanted to use paint, not glitter.  So I checked out TONS of You Tube tutorials and they were pretty much all the same technique. 

I may have used too much paint because I had some gorgeous color combinations but by the time all the excess paint drained out it had altered my designs. 

What I did was gathered and arranged my acrylic paint into the color combos that I wanted.  I would strategically squirt in the paint, cover the opening with a piece of paper towel and shake it until I got the design and mixture I wanted.

Then I set the balls upside down, turning them occasionally to get the paint to run out.  Unfortunately, I did these in the evening and by the time I got up in the morning some paint had settled in one spot and ruined my design.  Oh well, lessons learned.  They still look pretty good and next year I’ll put them in a jar or basket for display.  Next Christmas I hope to do a better job so I can hang them on my tree.

I made 2 shadow boxes and I love them so much that I may do them as gifts next year.  So that means I will need to start collecting coupons from craft stores and buy them months before Christmas so I can get them at a discount.

Here is the first one that I did, I saw it on Pinterest:

I took the back off of the frame and cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit and attached it to the back of the frame.  My girlfriend has some sort of machine that prints the vinyl letters so she did that part for me.  Then, while the back of the frame was off, I added different sized bells.  You can add as many or as little as you want.  I put the back on the frame and put the letters on top of the glass.

Then I started to think of other designs and came up with this one:

I basically did the same thing but added some “snow”.  I bought the bagged snow at the craft store, I really loved using that because some of it stuck to the inside of the glass and it looks like it is snowing!!!

With the snow that was leftover, I dumped in an apothecary jar and set 2 silver glitter ornaments that I had from last year.  I saw this in a magazine somewhere but they had something different setting in with the snow.  The jar is pictured to the right of the glitter votive cup below.

I made 2 glitter candle votive cups.

I bought the glass cups at the dollar store.  I quickly slathered on the Mod Podge to the outside of the glass containers and then dunked each side in a plate full of glitter.  A girl can’t have too many sparkly and glittery things!!  I loved the look of them in the evening when the only light I had going on was candle light!  However the glitter does drop off when touched so I think I might look into some sort of a sealer to spray over it.

I also made several scarves, here’s three of them:

I’ll be setting up an Etsy shop and selling them there.

And finally, my gorgeous peacock feather Christmas wreath!  LOVE!! 

I bought an peacock feather wreath at an import store and simply added the blue balls and hydrangea flowers.  I was however, stuck on which color to go with.  I also had some green balls and flowers that matched the inside of the feather but decided to stick with the blue. 

Stay tuned though, there are some additional types of ornaments that I will be making yet!  I’m saving those for some cold wintery weekend when it’s just too bitter outside and I want to hibernate for a few days.  It doesn’t have to be Christmas to make ornaments!!!